In this timely episode of IsraelCast, host Steven Shalowitz speaks with Iran expert Beni Sabti for a timely and deeply personal conversation recorded from near Tel Aviv in the midst of missile sirens and shelter runs. Sabti, born in Iran and now a leading researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, brings a rare lens shaped by lived experience under the Islamic Revolution and decades of work analyzing Iranian culture, propaganda, and regime behavior.
Together, Shalowitz and Sabti examine the deeper forces driving the war with Iran, from the regime’s ideology and regional ambitions to its treatment of minorities and its long campaign of intimidation beyond the Middle East. Sabti argues that the central question is not only military, but moral and political: whether the Iranian people, whom he describes as far more aligned with Western values than their rulers, can seize a new future.
The conversation also explores Israeli resilience under fire, the broader regional stakes, the Jewish community still living in Iran, and what real success might look like after the war. Sobering, wide-ranging, and unexpectedly human, this episode offers listeners a powerful window into one of the most consequential conflicts facing Israel and the free world.
Beni Sabti is an Iran expert at the INSS. Sabti was born in Iran in 1972 and raised primarily under the Islamic Revolution regime. After escaping Iran to Israel in 1987, he served in the IDF, primarily as a researcher, mostly in projects relating to Iranian culture and influence on cognition, decision making, and media. One of the flagship projects he led was the establishment of the IDF Spokesperson’s platforms in Persian, designed to address the Iranian people directly. Sabti gives lectures about many issues related to Iran and is a commentator on Iran for media outlets in Israel and abroad. He was also one of the cultural advisors to the series “Tehran,” broadcast on Apple TV and Israel’s Channel 11.